Shoe and method of shoemaking



Jan. 18, 1944. K. A. STRITTER SHOES AND METHODS OF SHOEMAKING Filed Jan. 22, 1943 Patented Jan. 18, 1944 UNITED STATE.

OFFICE snot; AND METHOD or snqaiyran ne Application January 22, 1943, Serial No. 473,160

13 Claims. (01. 12-442) This invention relates to improvements in shoes nd ni the s f mekm h same. The p e application is a continuation in part of my earlier application, Serial No. 420,403, filed November 25, 1941.

In the manufacture of Goodyear weltshoes and shoes having mock welts or so-called McKay welts it is a common practice t employ beaded welting, i. e., welting having a bead or ridge upon the side which is to be exposed when the welting has hee applied to the shoe. The beaded welting may be so made and applied that the bead will lie against the upper so that it will tend to prevent moisture from working into the shoe and insure against the unsightly accumulation of dust and debris in the welt crease. The bead may also be employed chiefly as a decorative or style feature to add character and attractiveness to the shoe. The beaded weltin-g, however, is more expensive than ordinary welting inasmuch as its manufacture involves cutting and. shaping operations and resulting Waste of welting material and consequently the use of beaded welting necessarily adds to the cost of manufacturing the shoe.

One object of the present invention is to reduce the expense of providing a beaded or ridged formation upon a shoe bottom member such as the welt of a Goodyear or McKay welt sho or the middle sole of aplatform shoe.

With'this object in View the invention, in one aspect, contemplates forming a bead or ridge upon a shoe bottom member such as a welt or a middle sole, in the process of sewing the bottom member to an outsole, and controlling or accomplishing the sewing operation so that one strand of a two-strand seam will be caused to lie aloft upon the upper side of the welt, middle sole or other bottom member to constitute the head. The seam may be sewn by a conventional lockstitch sewing machine and the sewing operation may be controlled by suitable relative adjustment of the tensions of the bobbin thread and the needle thread so that the bobbin thread, instead of being drawn by the needle thread into the stitch holes in the welt, will lie, in an unlooped condition, upon the upper face of the welt or midthe sole and thus will constitute a bead or ridge. In such a seam the loops of the needle thread extend through the outsole and the Welt or middle sole and encircle the bead-forming bobbin thread at regularly spaced intervals so that a novel and distinctive ornamental efiect is produced which adds character and style to the shoe. To make the beaded effect more pronounced there may be employed, in place of the usual bobbin thread, a strand which substantially" larger or more bulky than the needle thread. Such a strand ma e m l b of r an r s-se tional contour or it may be in the form ofa tape and it maybe of a color contrasting'with that of the needle thread to accentuate the decorative effect.

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view oi an outsole for use in the manuiacture of a McKay'welt shoe, the outsole having a welt preattached thereto by means of a two-strand seam one strand of which lies aloft upon the upper surfac of the welt to form a bead;

Fig. 2'is a fragmentary cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale taken along the line IIII ofFig.1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale taken along the line III-III of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a shoe embodying the outsoleand the beaded-welt shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a portion of a bead-forming strand of modified construction;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale of a McKay welt shoe in which a strand such as that shown in Fig. 5 is employed as the bead-forming strand of the seam which secures together the welt and the outsole;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 but illustrating the invention embodied in a shoe of Goodyear Welt construction;

Fig. 8 is a perspective View of the toe portion of the shoe shown in Fig. '7;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary. cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale of a platform shoe in which my invention is embodied; and

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale of another type of shoe embodying my invention.

' Referring to Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawing, which illustrate the application of my invention to the manufacture of McKay welt shoes, I have shown an outsole I4 to which a welt 16 has been attached by sewing through the parts a seam consisting of two strands l8 and 20. In the sewing operation the strand I8 is caused to lie aloft upon the upper face of the welt so that it forms a bead thereon similar to that formed upon a strip of beaded welting and a series of loops 22 (Fig. 3) are formed in the strand 2!], the loops being drawn through the outsole and the welt from the lower side of the outsole and caused to encircle the bead-forming strand l8. Thus, the loop 22 of the strand 29 hold the bead-forming strand l B in place upon the welt and the two strands I8 and 20 cooperate to secure the welt and the outsole firmly together.

The seam just described may be sewn by means of a lockstitch sewing machine of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,169,909, granted February 1, 1916, upon application of Fred Ashworth. Such a machine em ploys a bobbin strand and a needle strand and the sewing operation may be controlled by suitable relative adjustment of the bobbin strand tension and the needle strand tension to cause the bobbin strand to lie aloft upon the surface of the welt to form the bead. The machine may be equipped with conventional bobbin and needle threads and the tension of the bobbin thread may be made suficiently greater than that of the needle thread so that the bobbin thread will not be drawn into the needle or stitch holes in the welt in the course of th stitching operation but will lie in a substantially straight or unlooped condition upon the surface of the welt so that it will form the desired ridge or bead thereon. It may be desirable, however, to employ in the bobbin a thread or strand which is somewhat larger or more bulky than the needle thread so that the bead formed by the bobbin thread will be more prominent. Moreover, a bobbin strand may be employed which is not only larger but is also tougher and stiffer than the needle thread in which case the bobbin or bead-forming strand may be caused to lie aloft upon the welt without careful adjustment of the relative tensions of the two strands which form the seam. The beadforming strand may be composed of various ma-v terials and it may be a strand of fabricated or solid construction such as those commonly employed as lacing or piping strips in the manufacture of various articles. It may also, for example, consist of a strand of solid plastic material or it may be woven or otherwise fabricated of cotton or other fibrous textile substance and it, may be of a color to contrast with that of the needle strand so as to accentuate the ornamental effect produced by the bead-forming strand. Advantageously, as shown in Fig. 5, the bead-forming strand l 8 may consist of a core 24 enclosed within a tubular covering or coating 26 of finishing material of a plastic or resinous nature, preferably having a smooth and glossy surface which is moisture repellent and of a character such that it will not become easily soiled. The bead-forming strand may be made of any desired crosssectional contour. For example, asillustrated in Fig. 5, it may be in the form of a narrow tape of substantially rectangular cross-sectional contour or it may be round in cross-section, as shown in Fig. 2. I

An outsole with a welt preattached thereto by a seam sewn as already described may be attached, as by means of cement, to an upper 28 which has been secured in overlasted position upon an insole 30, as shown in Fig. 6. thereby producing a shoe of the so-called McKay welt type. The inner edge of the welt l 6, which is preferably beveled as indicated at 32. extends inwardly beneath the overlasted portion of the upper and preferably, as shown, the seam in the welt and the outsole is so located that the bead formed by the strand 18 will lie close to the upper, as in a storm welt shoe in which a beaded welt of conventional form is employed. It will be noted that a shoe constructed as shown in Fig. 6 will have the external appearance of a Goodyear welt shoe. Because of the ornamental appearance imparted to the shoe by the bead-forming strand of the seam which secures the welt to the outsole, however, the shoe embodies a style feature which makes it readily saleable as a novelty or sport shoe. Moreover, a substantial reduction in the expense of manufacturing the shoe is efiected inasmuch as it is unnecessary to employ preformed beaded welting and the seam which functions to form the bead performs also the function of securing the welt or other bottom member to the outsole so that the expense of an additional operation for this purpose is avoided.

In Fig. 7 there is shown a shoe of Goodyear welt construction in which a welt is secured to an upper 280 and to a lipped insole 300 by the stitches 34 of a conventional inseam and the outsole I40 is secured to the welt by an outseam comprising strands I 8 and 20sewn in the manner already described whereby the strand I8 is caused to lie aloft upon the upper surface of the welt to form a bead.

In both Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 the bead-forming strand I8 consists of a tape of substantial width and thickness, such as that shown in Fig. 5, the use of such a tape insuring that the bead will be a prominent and outstanding feature of the shoe. The bead-forming strand l8 may advantageously be made of yielding or readily compressible material and the loops of the strand 20 may be drawn tightly over the strand I 8 in the sewing operation so that they will constrict the strand l8 at regularly spaced intervals thereby imparting a novel decorative formation to the bead, simulating to a striking extent the appearance of a string of beads, as illustrated in Fig. 8.

Fig. 9 is illustraitve of the formation of a bead upon the upper margin or extension edge portion of the middle or platform sole 38 of a so-called platform shoe by the sewing of a two-strand outsole-attaching seam consisting of strands I 8 and 20 through the platform sole 38 and the outsole M. The platform sole 38 is provided with a wrapping or binding strip 40 which covers its edgeand overlies its upper and lower marginal portions. As shown, the bead-forming strand l8 lies upon the inturned upper marginal portion of the edge binding 49 and the loops of the strand 20 which encircle the strand 18 extend through both the upper and lower margins of the edge binding so that the seam serves to hold the binding securely in place as well as to secure together the platform sole and the outsole. The platform sole 38 may be secured by means of cement or otherwise to the shoe either before or after the bead-forming and outsole-attaching seam has been sewn. As shown, the platform sole 38 is attached by cement, as indicated at 42, to the inturned margin of the upper 28 which has been secured in overlasted position upon the insole 30.

A shoe having a middle sole 330 provided with a marginal bead in accordance with my invention is illustrated in Fig. 10, wherein a seam comprising strands l8 and 2!] is sewn in the sole 380, the strand 5% lying aloft upon the upper margin of the sole 31m to form the bead and the strand 20 extending through the sole 3% and through the upper layer M of a two-layer outsole comprising alower or tread layer 56 which i attached by means of cement to the upper layer 44 after the seam has been sewn. This construction is particularly advantageous in a shoe wherein the outsole layers are to becomposed of'crepe rubber. As shown, the upper outsole layer 44. and the middle sole 388 are secured to the upper 28 and the insole 30 of the shoe by mean of throughand-through stitches #38.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. That improvement in the manufacture of shoes which consists in securing together a shoe bottom member and an outsole by sewing through said parts a two-strand seam while controlling the sewing operation to cause one of the strands to lie aloft upon the upper side of said bottom member throughout the length of the seam to form a bead and to cause the other strand to form a series of loops encircling the first strand with both sides of each loop fitting tightly within a single stitch hole in said bottom member.

2. That improvement in the manufacture of welt shoes which consists-in sewing a two-strand seam through the welt and through the margin of the outsole of a welt shoe while controlling the sewing operation to cause one of the strands to lie aloft upon the upper side of the welt throughout the length of the seam to form a bead and to cause the other strand to form a series of loops encircling the first strand with both sides of each loop fitting tightly within a single stitch hole in said welt.

3. That improvement in the manufacture of platform shoes which consists in sewing a two strand seam through the platform sole of a platform shoe while controlling the sewing operation to cause one of the strands to lie aloft upon the edge binding at the upper side of said platform sole throughout the length of the seam to form a bead and to cause the other strand to form a series of loops encircling the first strand with both sides of each loop fitting tightly within a single stitch hole in said platform sole.

4. That improvement in the manufacture of platform shoes which consists in sewing a twostrand seam through the platform sole of a platform shoe while controlling the sewing operation to cause one of the strands to lie aloft upon the edge binding at the upper side of said platform sole throughout the length of the seam to form a bead and to cause the other strand to form a series of loops encircling the first strand with both sides of each loop fitting tightly within a single stitch hole in said platform sole and through both margin of an edge binding strip on said platform sole.

5. The method of forming a bead extending lengthwise along the exposed upper margin of a bottom member that projects outwardly from between the upper and the outsole of a shoe which comprises employing in a lockstitch sewing machine a bobbin strand which is substantially larger in cross-section than the needle strand, and operating the machine to sew, through said bottom member and the outsole, a seam extending lengthwise of the margin of the outsole with the bobbin strand lying upon the surface of said bottom member throughout the length of the seam so as to provide a bead secured to said bottom member by said needle strand.

6. In a shoe having an upper, an outsole and a bottom member extending between the outsole and the margin of the upper, a two-strand seam attaching the outsole to said bottom member, one strand of said seam lying aloft upon the upper marginal surface of said bottom member and forming a bead upon said surface, and the other s rand harms fo m h rein a s es of o s both sides of each of which fit tightly within a single stitch hole in said bottom member, said loops encircling said bead and securing it to said bottom member.

7. In a shoe having an upper, an, outsole and a bottom member extending between the outsole and the margin of the upper, a two-strand seam attaching the outsole to said bottom member, one strand of said seam consisting of a flat tape lying face down throughout its length upon the upper marginal surface of said bottom member, and the other strand comprising a series of loops both sides of each of which extend through a single stitch hole in said bottom member, said loops tightly engaging the edges and both sides of said tape and cooperating with the latter to form a decorative bead upon said bottom member.

8. In a welt shoe, a seam securing the outsole to the welt, one strand of said seam being relatively large and consisting of compressible material and lying aloft throughout its length upon the upper fact of the welt. and the other strand comprising a series of loops both sides of each of which extend through a single stitch hole in the welt, said loops tightly encircling said larger strand and said larger strand being compressed and tightly constricted by said loops at regularly spaced intervals to simulate the effect of a string of beads extending along the welt.

9. In a shoe having an upper, an outsole, and a bottom member extending between the outsole and the margin of the upper, a two-strand seam attaching the outsole to said bottom member, one of the strands of said seam being relatively large and comprising a core enclosed by a covering layer and lying throughout its length upon the upper marginal surface of said bottom member, and the other strand contrasting in color with that of the larger strand and comprising a series of loops, the opposite sides of each loop extending through a single stitch hole in said bottom member and encircling said larger strand and cooperating with the latter to produce a novel decorative effect.

10. In a shoe having an outsole and a welt, a two-strand outsole attaching seam extending lengthwise of the welt, one of the strands of said seam lying aloft upon the upper face of the welt and forming a bead upon said face and the other strand having formed therein a series of loops encircling said bead and securing both the bead and the outsole to the welt, both sides of each of said loops fitting tightly within a single stitch hole in the Welt.

11. In a shoe having a middle sole and an outsole, a two-strand outsole attaching seam extending lengthwise of the margin of the middle sole, one of the strands of said seam lying aloft upon the upper marginal surface of the middle sole and forming a bead thereon, and the other strand having formed therein a series of loops both sides of each of which fit tightly within a single stitch hole in the middle so-le, said loops encircling said bead and securing both the bead and the outsole to the middle sole.

12. A shoe having, in combination, an insole, an upper having its margin inturned beneath the insole, a platform sole, a binding strip covering the edge and overlying the upper and lower marinal surfaces of the middle sole and outsole, and a two-strand seam securing the outsole to the middle sole, one strand of said seam lying aloft upon the upper marginal portion of said edge binding and forming a bead thereon, and the other strand having formed therein a series of loops encircling said head and extending through the middle sole and the outsole and both marginal portions of said binding strip, both sides of each loop fitting tightly within a single stitch hole in a platform sole.

13. A shoe comprising an insole, an upper having its margin turned inwardly beneath the insole, a middle sole extending outwardly beyond the upper, a two-layer outsole and a two-strand seam attaching the upper layer of the outsole to said middle sole, one strand of said seam lying aloft upon the upper marginal surface of said middle sole and forming a bead upon that surface and the other strand having formed therein a series of loops both sides of which fit tightly Within a single stitch hole in said middle sole, said loops encircling said bead and securing it to said middle sole.

KARL A. STRI'I'I'ER. 

